Open Christian Vs. Atheist Debate. With Special Guests...The Deflection Artist and The Post Deleter!

Crash: Open debate folks. How bout we start with something simple. Is there any evidence for any God or Gods?

Jare: The burden of proof lies upon the one making the assertion that something exists.

If I say I saw a new species of animal, it would fall upon me to back my claim with evidence. In the same manner, one asserting the existence of a god must be the one to provide evidence in a debate.

However, one cannot prove or disprove the existence of a deity as such relies upon faith.

Crash: Indeed Jare. love the answer. Yet most Christians really don't understand how the burden of proof works unfortunately. They make truth/fact claims....then have no evidence to back up said claims. Intellectually dishonest and disingenuous from the outset.

deuce916: There is no evidence of a god or gods because there are no god or gods.

Crash: Plus "GOD" is simply a generic term that humans in our finite wisdom ascribe to something that we cannot understand. But your point is taken deuce!

Idonthaveausername: I agree with you Jare. Me personally, I do not know if there is a God or not. I do not have evidence supporting the existence of one and I do not have evidence to disprove it either. For some reason when I explain this to people 99% of them are confused and say to me "you can't do that! either you believe or don't" or they will say "so since you don't believe in one/have evidence that means you don't think there is one"and I'm like no I can't prove nor disprove. It's so difficult for some to understand. -___-

Idonthaveausername: Nice post Crash.

deuce916: I don't understand what this "disprove" crap is.

deuce916: How can you be looking for evidence that there is no god when there is no evidence in the first pllace because god or a gods does not exist. If t there is no evidence then god doesn't exist. & at the moment god doesn't exist.

deuce916: Do you think the planets were just made overnight? You do realise how long time is. It's a very long time, longer than all of us put together could imagine. There is no evidence to support a god other than the bible. (or any other ancient text) I agree with the 99% of people you met who are confused because I am confused. It's like you're too scared to say there's no god. Plus you spell god with a "G" which means you fear it's wrath. In all sincerity, you believe in a god.

Idonthaveausername: I don't know if there is one. Is there a possibility? Maybe, but I don't know for sure.

Idonthaveausername: I understand what you're saying deuce. Religion or gods of any kind has no place in my life and I don't care about it either. I don't want to live my life based off of how some higher being/god/ whatever wants me to live. I would describe myself as an apatheist.

deuce916: Well you should know. Do you have any proof that there is a god? If so there is a god. But if not then there is no god. I don't think you do understand what I'm saying.

Idonthaveausername: Yes I understand. I have no proof, so no. I hope my other comment cleared things up too.

deuce916: So I'm still confused. Do you believe in a god or not?

Idonthaveausername: No.

deuce916: Well thank you.

Idonthaveausername: The reason why I mentioned the "disprove" stuff is because some religious people I've met want others to have proof of there being no god.

deuce916: Well they're silly, how can you disprove there is a god. What possible evidence could you be looking for?

Idonthaveausername: Exactly, thats what I was trying to say before in my first comment but I probably phrased it weird. My apologies.

deuce916: In your first comment you mentioned that 99% of people you meet are confused but it's you who sounds confused.

Idonthaveausername: Ok my apologies.

TheDoctor394: Crash and I have discussed this in Religion chat before, and the first thing I have tried to do is establish what we mean by the term "evidence". Immediately, I've noticed in this thread that "evidence" has been quickly changed to "proof". My contention is that, while these words are obviously connected, they are not synonymous.

I've been researching the word "evidence", and have found one or two official definitions that are a bit ambiguous, but further research has discovered some views that are how I view the difference between "evidence" and "proof", which can be found here https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/proof-and-evidence.101209/ and here at the English Language & Usage site: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/203640/whats-the-difference-in-meaning-between-evidence-and-proof

One of the people at the first site articulated it excellently when they wrote: "Fingerprints are proof that a person touched something. If I find your jacket in my car, it is evidence that you were there, but not proof. If the police find lots of money in my house, it might be evidence that I robbed a bank. A videotape showing me at the bank holding the gun would prove that I robbed a bank."

In other words, I see evidence as something that suggests truth. It might be weak, it might be strong, it might lead to proof, it might end up being false, but, at least initially, it's something to consider. It is evidence.

So when people ask for evidence for the existence of God (in my case, the Christian God), I point to two main things, that being the Bible, and the universe itself. These do not prove the existence of God. I can accept that there are millions of people who are not convinced by these things. But, for me (and, obviously, millions of others for many centuries), they are very convincing, and have helped me to believe without doubt in the existence of God.

deuce916: Doctor, I don't believe a word of what you've written.

TheDoctor394: Alright.. um... what do you mean by that reply?

Are you saying you don't agree with my definitions? You don't share my beliefs? What do you mean by not believing anything I've written?

deuce916: Proof, evidence. It's all the same thing when we talk about any facts about a god.& there are no facts so there is no god.